'Top Gun: Maverick': Here's Everything We Know So Far About the Sequel

Do you feel the need...the need for more Top Gun? Then you're in luck! After confirming that a Top Gun sequel is definitely happening last spring, Tom Cruise (Pete "Maverick" Mitchell) has been busy filming the new movie. Here's everything we know about Top Gun: Maverick, as it's been titled.

Tom Cruise will return as Maverick.

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Of course, Top Gun just wouldn't be the same without Tom Cruise. The sequel bears the main character's name, after all. The actor recently shared the first photo from "Day 1" on set, and fans got very excited about the sneak peek.

A post shared by Tom Cruise (@tomcruise) on May 30, 2018 at 10:40pm PDT

Jennifer Connelly will be the new leading lady.

Kelly McGillis will reportedly not reprise her role as Charlie (we guess they lost that loving feeling), but Jennifer Connelly (Labyrinth, Requiem For a Dream, A Beautiful Mind) has been confirmed as the new female lead.

Getty ImagesMike Marsland

"She's a great actress obviously," Cruise told Entertainment Tonight. "I think when you see the film you'll see why she's perfect for it."

That Hashtag Show had previously reported that Maverick's new love interest would be named Penny Benjamin, a 40- to 55-year-old sister to Naval Admiral Robby Benjamin, who apparently does not like Maverick (drama!). The new leading lady is also apparently mom to tween Miriam, and Maverick is supposedly smitten with both mother and child (Jerry Maguire vibes, anyone?).

Top Gun 2 will feature Goose's grown-up son...

Paramount Pictures

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While Goose (Anthony Edwards) obviously can't come back, the late character's son with Carole (Meg Ryan), will be a big part of the plot. You might remember Wrigley, or Bradley, as he was called in the first film, as the little boy sitting on top of the piano while his dad plays "Great Balls of Fire" in this scene:

Actor Miles Teller (Whiplash, Divergent, War Dogs, and Fantastic Four) has been cast in the role.

Paramount Pictures/Getty Images

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"I feel the need..." he tweeted to confirm the news.

...but that doesn't mean he'll be Maverick's new wingman.

Apparently, Maverick is now a flight instructor, and his relationship with his student Wrigley isn't a good one. It seems Wrigley may be holding a grudge against Maverick for the death of his dad.

Paramount Pictures

This conflict falls perfectly in line with what Tom Cruise has teased about the project so far. "It's gonna be a competition film, like the first one," Cruise told Access Hollywoodlast year. "And it's gonna be in the same vein, the same tone as the first one. But a progression for Maverick."

Iceman is back!

Val Kilmer, who recently recovered from a battle with throat cancer, will re-enter the "Danger Zone" for Top Gun: Maverick, asTom "Iceman" Kazansky.

The Top Gun sequel's release date is July 12, 2019.

Written by Peter Craig, Justin Marks, and Eric Warren Singer, Top Gun: Maverick is being directed by Joseph Kosinski (Only the Brave, Tron: Legacy, Oblivion). The premiere date is currently set for next summer.

Some fan theories have already surfaced.

A clever commenter on the That Hashtag Show article may have caught onto something huge: Penny Benjamin is actually a name we heard mentioned in the first film, specifically when Commander Tom Jordan, known as "Stinger," was berating Maverick for his recklessness:

"Son, your ego is writing checks your body can't cash," Stinger says in the scene. "You've been busted, you lost your qualifications as section leader three times, put in hack twice by me, with a history of high speed passes over five air control towers, and one admiral's daughter!" Goose asks, "Penny Benjamin?" and Maverick shrugs.

"I wonder if this is the same person and her child in the film [as] Maverick's from the hook-up," the commenter pondered. We love this theory, but the math doesn't quite add up: By the time the second installment comes out, 33 years will have passed since the 1986 film, meaning any daughter Penny and Maverick might have had would be much older than 10—unless we're to believe the two got together again in the last decade. Knowing Maverick, that's entirely possible. Or maybe we're not supposed to read too much into the timeline. After all, if we're going by accuracy of the first film, Wrigley's age wouldn't be right either.

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Either way, the fact that the writers are reviving a character referenced in the first is very interesting. We can't wait to see what kind of shenanigans Maverick's ego gets him into this time around!

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